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» Contiguous Palestinian State from Tilting at Windmills
Over the weekend, Bill Graham apparently supported a "contiguous Palestinian state". It's possible that Graham may have been thinking of something like this plan (endorsed by Clinton, via the proprietor of Le Blog de Polyscopique), which would include ... [Read More]

Tracked on 2004-04-19 1:47:17 PM

» Bill Graham's peace plan from Being American in T.O.
Apr. 18 - According to this over at the Shotgun, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham's peace plan is to cut Israel in half. On the bright side, it could give Paul material for tomorrow. Screeching Bill Graham is one... [Read More]

Tracked on 2004-04-22 7:23:13 PM

Comments

Sadly, this is no surprise coming from this government or this Minister. Canada supports Cuban despotism over American democracy and recognizes fascist China's fifty year occupation of Tibet. It seems the only logic guiding our foreign policy is a grotesque combination of self-interest and parodic anti-Americanism.

I am getting very sick of having that man as our Foreign Affairs minister. Appeasing terrorists by giving them a terrorist expressway for easier access to pizza parlours in the middle of Israel is just the thing to bring peace to the region. Right. I assume he made a pro forma condemnation of terrorism, as usual, while also opposing any action that would make it more difficult for them to carry out their deeds. No fence, no checkpoints, no consequences for engaging in terrorist acts, even for the leader of Hamas. He makes me sick.

My Martin honeymoon, never the most passionate of affairs, went ice cold when he kept Our Lady Peace in Foreign Affairs. Graham is, of course, simply carrying on the tradition of Lloyd Axworthy to whom foreign policy was largely, find out what the Americans are doing and do the opposite.

Seriously though, it is one of the nastier problems though - if you think that a Palestinian state is desireable, how do you include the Gaza strip? Or do you relocate everyone to the West Bank?

Posted by: KevinG | 2004-04-18 9:40:49 PM

A connecting corridor between the West Bank and Gaza could be as little as 100 metres wide. Then, at some strategic point in the middle, it could be reduced to a one kilometer long tunnel, with Israel having sovereignty above it and the Palestinians below. And if worst came to worst, Israel could just blow it up and sever the two halves.

Posted by: Mark Cameron | 2004-04-19 6:09:24 AM

To put this in perspective, President Bush called for "a Palestinian state that is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent", as of last Wednesday.

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/31418.htm

Smart idea? I suppose it depends. A couple of heavily guarded roads or tunnels through Israel should not be that big of a problem, especially if they ran through the Negev desert, which are farther away from settled areas than much of the Green Line.

PS: when I say "not be that big of a problem", I'm talking about in the situation where Palestinian terrorism has been effectively stamped out and some sort of order has been brought back to the territories. I'm not talking about the present war situation.